


Hesitant Gray

by orphan_account



Category: Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Based on a Tumblr Post, Don't Have to Know Canon, Gen, How Do I Tag, Season/Series 12 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21687370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: MASSIVE INSPO: the-yandere-kitsune on Tumblr. Go check her stuff out. This is based on her/our K-12 AU____It's cold. Too cold. The mid-August chill felt foreign on Chase's skin. This place isn't like home to him. It's too formal, too mellow. Not enough delinquency to make things interesting. The same small town nonsense he'd have to get used to like last time.
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'll add more tags/info as the story goes on! Finally started this thing, so now I'm seeing it through the end. Hope you guys enjoy!

It’s cold. Too cold. The mid-August chill felt foreign on Chase’s skin. This place isn’t like home to him. It’s too formal, too mellow. Not enough delinquency to make things interesting. The same small town nonsense he’d have to get used to like last time.

But things were different then. Then, he was 9, full of color and exuberance. Excited for anything at that point. Longing for interaction, for friends, for something.

The longing was replaced a while ago. He never remembered when it changed.

He’s 14 now, his hair still ruffled in the same way as back then. His father’s old baseball cap lay haphazardly on his head, the only sentiment of his older life.

“Chase? Are you hearing me?” His mother snapped him out of his empty daze.

He’d been having this conversation for a long time now. Too long, in his opinion. It was the same thing he’d been told 6 years ago, except with longer words. Less infantilized, he guessed.

“Remember, kid-”

“Don’t let the older kids push me over just because I’m the youngest in the grade, yeah yeah mom, I’ll be fine.” He groaned, adjusting his hat comfortably.

His mother formed a small smile and nodded. Despite everything, she was heavenly. Chase was almost a spitting image, other than the freckles. The small scattered dots that lined from his back to his cheeks. The rest was perfect. He had her small button nose, her softer jawline, her hair; everything.

Being both the pretty boy and the smart kid had its downsides though.

“Have a good day, alright?” She mumbled as he opened the front door.

“Will do mom, will do.”

***

Everyone was already congregating when he stepped foot into the school building. They crowded to lockers, forming disorganized mobs in every little nook they could find. Chase found it disgusting; how could they exist so easily? Was it sorcery? Did he accidentally waltz into Hogwarts?

’Okay, just get to 260, Brody. Then you’re home free’, he told himself, gripping tighter on his bag. The schedule was left in there by his mother during the tour a month ago. He should’ve gone with her then, but there’s no point in longing something that could never happen.

He twirled his hoodie strings tighter around his fingers. A few stares, but nothing new. Nobody came up to him as he maneuvered through the crowded hall. That’s all he wanted anyway; to not be bothered or harassed. 

He just wanted to survive.

When he finally found his locker, he sighed. There was a crowd in front of it. 7-ish girls, maybe? He couldn’t tell. He didn’t care either, he just wanted them out of his way.

And out of his way they went. The entire mob glided away in one uniform step. It was robotic. When he finally knew the source, he tensed. The bell for the first period had rung. He’d be late on his first day.

Shit.


	2. Chapter 2

In seconds, the entire hall was empty. The desolate corridors made his few footsteps echo through the building. Paranoia crept up his spine as he fumbled with his locker, already having memorized the code over the weekend. 

Despite being inside, the entire hall felt as if it had been draped in a disquieting cold. He didn't feel safe, especially not out in the open like this. He shook off the feeling, messing with his bag before closing the locker with a painful screech.

The folded paper in his hoodie pocket unfolded in his hands. The hardly-legible handwriting from the principal left him confused, awkwardly trying to make himself smaller in the already oversized halls. 

114; the room number of his first class. Though, he couldn't tell. The ones looked more like fives than anything else, with each letter morphing before his very eyes into a new sequence entirely.

'This place makes you walk a lot.' Chase thought, setting his hands in his pockets as his eyes scanned the wall. The posters on the wall seemed to be a result of perfunctory faculty, like most other schools he'd been to. Each advertised something bright and made him cringe just thinking of it. Too many colors in one place.

He sighed, ruffling his hair a bit before knocking at the classroom door. He thought it was the right one, but the excessive posters covering the signs didn't help. The sounds emulating off of the room went quiet when he knocked a second time more forcefully. 

Great, at least everyone hasn't disappeared. 

Soft footsteps padded the floor on the other end of the threshold, the hardwood sound sending a coordinated thump through to his ear. His chest hurt at the thought of it, the concept of a room of people he'd be stuck with for 9 months just facing him. Right now.

He surely wasn't prepared when, instead of some kind of administrator, there was this kid. Couldn't have been over 15, the shine in his eyes gave that away automatically. He looked too...nice to be older. Like he had too much to hope for. 

And Chase was jealous of that. 

"Hi?" The kid said, a bit too eager for comfort. His eyes crinkled when he smiled, as Chase had noticed. At least someone wasn't suffering here.

"U-uh...I was told to come here for first period?" Chase swayed on his heels, biting his lip and wishing he didn't stand out too much. With a quick glance behind the kid, he could tell he hadn't. Everyone was preoccupied with what they were doing. 

"Oh..Oh! You must be Chase, right? The new guy?" 

"Wow, famous already?" He laughed with a small hope he didn't sound as awkward as he felt. 

"Well, not really. Nobody really gives a shit about who's new or not." 

Chase was startled at the response. This guy wasn't as pure as he looked, apparently. The bluntness caught him off-guard, but he took it as a warning. A warning to lay low and forget about being the clown in the room. 

"Well, you coming in?" 

Oh yeah...he still had to go to class. He cursed at his forgetfulness and followed a slightly skipping (it was more of a heel bounce Chase hadn't seen anywhere else) kid to the teacher's desk on the other side of the room. The people surrounding him in their respective seats seemed to not even acknowledge he breathed their same air. Each of them looked so focused on whatever it was they were doing, it was robotic. 

It sent a shiver down his spine, but he continued on until he saw the nameplate resting steadily on the teacher's desk. Mr.Silth, he thought. It was hard to decipher; the font was too small and illegible. 

"Excuse me, Mr.Silth--" the kid took a step forward and tapped the man's desk with his finger. The teacher looked up from his phone, "Chase showed up. Any seating stuff or...?"

Mr.Silth merely nodded, and in a hoarse grumble, he mumbled, "anywhere." and went back to his phone. The guy was too ancient to be teaching an art class full of high schoolers, that's for sure. 

The kid gave a strained smile; he'd done this before. The look of both agony and sing-songy glee spread across the rosy cheeks in an almost menacing fashion. 

"Well, you know what that means!" The kid looked expectantly, but let out a sigh at the lack of response, "You're stuck next to me in the corner." 

Better than any of these other guys...I guess. He thought, stumbling around the corners as he followed the other. It wasn't every day you blindly followed some kid you'd only met a few minutes ago. 

"I'm Jackie, by the way." The kid looked over his shoulder before he sat at the previously empty long table. 

The back corner seats of classrooms were always Chase's favorite. It was right next to the window too, just tilted enough to where the shade from the trees outside left sporadic patterns in the space. 

"It's Cha-"

"Yeah, I know." 

God, this kid is too blunt for his own good. You don't need to be so forceful all the time dude, Chase thought, kind of hoping Jackie was some kind of mind reader. It would be easier than saying everything out loud, anyway. 

Within seconds everything felt like a blur. Chase just sat and half-listened to whatever Jackie was going on about. It was supposed to be interesting, but he just couldn't focus. It all felt empty. Nobody else seemed to acknowledge his existence, hell, if he had just gotten up and left then Jackie probably wouldn't have noticed either. 

The rest of the class period was identical. The bell was the only indicator he wasn't stuck in a time loop for eternity. Even then, it was drowned out by all the noise. People were so loud nowadays; he wouldn't try to join their little yelling circles anytime soon.

But he was stuck in the midst of all of them.


End file.
